The Table

The Table were a punk rock band from Cardiff, Wales, best known for their 1977 single "Do The Standing Still (Classics Illustrated)". The band originally comprised Russell Young (vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass), Tony Barnes (guitars, bass), Len Lewis (drums) and Mickey O'Connor (guitars). History Young and Barnes met at Cathays High School in Cardiff, and started writing and playing songs together. They performed together from 1971 in the band John Stabber, and formed Do You Want This Table (later shortened to The Table) in 1972. The band was named after an overheard random comment by a stranger, and originally intended being a studio-only recording group. Although they performed at the Windsor Free Festival in 1974, publicity material at the time stated that they did not own any musical instruments, refused to tour, and said that they were not a "real" band and had no future in the music industry. Despite this, they were signed to Virgin Records in a one-off deal, and released "Do The Standing Still (Classics Illustrated)", first recorded as a demo in 1975. The single was an NME 'Single Of The Week', rapidly becoming a cult favourite. The lyrics were a collection of lines from comic books, and "people used to rush the dance floor and stand still for the duration of the song when it came on in clubs." According to Barnes: We [were].. not Punks, not hippies, just too arty-probably-for-our-own-good writers primarily. And certainly not disco either. ...When the single came out to good reception [we] got offers for a few gigs and tours. Trouble was the sheer cost of paying for the PA equipment and crew and all that. We were offered tours but Virgin wouldn't back us which we felt aggrieved by as it would've promoted our material on their label, so we were kind of stuck in a Catch-22. There wasn't exactly pressure from Virgin to tour but they had signed the Sex Pistols and XTC so probably lost what little interest they had.... That's where the legend of us having no gear must have come about. Basically we had our instruments and attendant amps, but nothing else, so when we played we were in the hands of whoever was running the PA and who of course wouldn't know our songs. That said, we made a good fist of it despite essentially not being showbiz types. There were memorably good gigs with XTC and us swapping top spot and using their PA.